ICT industry up 10.4 pct to RM320 bln in 2020, contributes 22.6 pct to GDP – DOSM

KUALA LUMPUR: The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry registered a 10.4 per cent growth in 2020, valued at RM320 billion, compared with 7.3 per cent in the previous year, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the ICT industry had shown positive growth despite the country having to face bitter challenges following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This positive growth is in line with the government’s main focus on empowering the digital economy which will strengthen the country’s economic growth under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) 2021-2025 to restore growth beyond the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement today.

He said the ICT industry contributed 22.6 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), comprising Gross Value Added of ICT industry (GVAICT) at 14.2 per cent and e-commerce of other industries at 8.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, he said the GVAICT registered a value of RM201.6 billion with slower growth of 3.3 per cent in 2020 as against 6.6 per cent in the preceding year.

“This was attributed to the decline in content and media and ICT trade industries at 11.7 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.

“However, the ICT manufacturing and ICT services industries continued to support the growth of GVAICT with 5.9 per cent and 6.7 per cent respectively,” he said.

Furthermore, Mohd Uzir said Gross Value Added of e-commerce increased to RM163.3 billion in 2020 from RM129.2 billion reported in the previous year, recording a growth of 26.5 per cent compared with 10 per cent in 2019.

“For the first time since the Information and Communications Technology Satellite Account (ICTSA) compilation, e-commerce recorded a double-digit contribution of 11.5 per cent to the GDP in 2020,” he said.

The manufacturing sector remained the major contributor to the Gross Value Added to e-commerce with a share of 54.5 per cent, followed by the services sector at 41.7 per cent.

“The implementation of various phases of movement control to curb the spread of Covid-19 and the closure of non-essential economic sectors have prompted consumers to speed up online shopping, which in turn accelerated the e-commerce market growth in Malaysia,” he added.

Mohd Uzir also reported that employment in the ICT industry in 2020 amounted to 1.16 million persons, accounting for 7.7 per cent of total employment.

“ICT manufacturing industry was the main contributor with 35.3 per cent, followed by ICT services (29.5 per cent) and ICT trade (21.7 per cent),“ he said.- Bernama